Helpless
by EclecticTrekker
Summary: “Lost Boys” missing scene. As Teyla is forced into taking the enzyme, Sheppard can only watch helplessly from the sidelines while her condition gets progressively worse.


"**Helpless"**

**Show: **Stargate Atlantis

**Genre: **Angst/General/Romance/Missing Scene

**Pairing: **Sheppard/Teyla

**Rating: **T (violence, slight profanity)

**Summary: **"Lost Boys" missing scene. As Teyla is forced into taking the enzyme, Sheppard can only watch helplessly from the sidelines with anger and guilt while her condition gets progressively worse.

**Disclaimer: **Atlantis isn't mine. All I own are my itty bitty little fanfics and some Shep/Teyla pictures on my screensaver. It's good enough for me.

**Author's Note: **Contains spoilers for "Lost Boys". Just a little something that I wanted to see in the episode. I didn't think there was enough interaction between Sheppard, Teyla, and Ronon while they were undergoing injections, so I decided to write some of it myself. Hope you enjoy!

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Sheppard flopped down on the musty cot with a heavy sigh. It was quieter here, a small, barren offshoot of the underground cave system in which Ford had put up him and his team for the undetermined length of their stay. Creature comfort was obviously not very high on the list of the little group of fugitives – a single bare light bulb jutted out from the ceiling casting a pale, sickly light around the room. There were a few scraps of cloth on the floor – an attempt at rugs of some sort? – but they did little to hide the bare, dirty floor. There had only been two spare cots for the team, so they had been forced to resort to double-bunking. Ronon had flat-out refused and seemed to have slept rather soundly standing up for the past three nights. Rodney had turned out to be a restless sleeper who had a tendency to kick, mumble, steal covers, and snore in his sleep. Sheppard was planning on curling up on the softest bit of floor he could find after the first night, but Teyla wouldn't hear of it and insisted that he share the other cot with her so he could get some rest. She slept quietly curled up on her side like a cat, and he found she was a much more agreeable person to share one of the lumpy, bug-infested mattresses with than the crotchety scientist.

He rubbed his eyes wearily. They had only been with Ford and his men for a few days, but it seemed like so much longer. Sometimes he found it difficult to remember that there was a world outside of his immediate surroundings, and the fact that he rarely got to see the others for long stretches at a time didn't help things. McKay was being kept busy learning what he could about the Wraith from Jace, and Ronon and Teyla were always off with the other men. He had no idea what they were up to, but the fact that they were going to be receiving more of the enzyme didn't calm his worries in the slightest.

He suddenly heard an uneven shuffling sound in the narrow passageway that lead to their makeshift quarters, and he propped his head up to see who it was. He made it out to be Teyla, but at first it was difficult to see her face – the lighting in the corridor was even worse than that in the dim room. He could tell that she was walking rather unevenly, holding on to the wall for support, and he was instantly concerned. When she stepped into the brighter light, Sheppard sprang off the bed in alarm.

The entire right side of her face was swollen and bruised, and blood was lightly streaming from her nose and ear. The arm that she was using to hold herself up was already purpling in bruises and even from a distance he could see the distinct patterning of finger marks and one dark oval palm print. He could make out a nasty shiner above her left eye that was also gently trickling blood – she absently reached up her free hand to swipe at it before it managed to get too much in the way of her vision.

"What the hell happened?" he demanded, immediately going to her and gently putting an arm around her waist to help her to the nearest bed. She grimaced as she gingerly lowered herself onto the mattress, gripping his hand tightly to balance herself. "Who did this? Was it just one guy?"

She shook her head and winced as the motion caused pain to some other injury that he couldn't see. "We were practicing – the training that Aiden wants Ronon and I to complete. I was not an even match for my opponents."

Sheppard was seeing red. He wanted nothing more than to find exactly who the creeps were that would beat someone to within an inch of her life and then not even make sure she made it back to her room without collapsing. Actually, he wouldn't mind driving a fist into Ford's face right then, but he doubted that would help their situation much – still he felt that breaking every bone in his body slowly and painfully might possibly be retribution enough. As he sat there for a moment wordlessly trembling with rage, Teyla wiped again at the cut above her eye, which snapped him back to attention.

"Ouch. That looks bad. Hold on a second." He fetched a small bowl of water sitting on the overturned crate in the corner. Quickly scanning the room, he decided that he wasn't very confident in the cleanliness of the rough sheets on the cots, so he tore off the edge of his t-shirt instead.

Teyla was watching him silently as he went about the room though one eye was nearly swollen shut. Sheppard put the bowl on the floor beside the cot and kneeled in front of her, carefully dipping the cloth scrap in the water and squeezing it out. He gently cupped her chin in one hand, being careful to avoid touching one particularly swollen area near her lower jaw that was quickly turning a nasty mottled purple. He gently began to wipe away the trails of blood that were still dripping down her cheek and neck, trying not to see the expression of pain in her eyes. When he went to wash the deep cut above her eye he must have somehow pressed on it too hard because she involuntarily hissed in pain and clenched one of her blood-splattered fists.

"Sorry. You okay?" he asked with concern. She gave him a slight nod, obviously being careful not to aggravate the injury to her head. He wiped away as much of the blood he felt he could without causing her more pain than it was worth. Setting aside the bowl, he tried to make eye contact with her but was hardly surprised when she looked away. He finally got up to sit beside her on the bed, drawing her close and gently rubbing her back. "What happened?" he asked softly.

"Ronon and I were working with some of Aiden's men – hand to hand combat mostly. I was able to handle one of them, but then I was supposed to take on three."

Sheppard was appalled. "_Three_ of them at the _same time_? And I guess they were all hopped up on the enzyme?"

"Yes," she sighed. "They believed it was the best way for us to understand how to handle ourselves if such a situation ever occurred. I…was not fast enough."

"Yeah, well there's a difference between teaching someone and beating them senseless. Why didn't Ronon come back with you?"

"He wanted to. They would not let him return until he had finished his training for the day." She then looked up at him with a forlorn expression that cut him to the core. "When will we be able to return to Atlantis?"

"I don't know. Ford isn't going to let us go anytime soon, and I don't know if we can risk setting out on our own without a solid plan." He glanced at her edgily. "How are you feeling…with the enzyme that is?"

"I have not had that many doses, but…" She paused as though unsure of what to say. "I do not wish to become like Aiden. It worries me how quickly he became dependent on the enzyme."

"Have they been giving you many doses?"

Teyla nodded weakly, holding out her arm for him to see. There was a large yellowish bruise right in the crook of her elbow, which Sheppard immediately recognized as the leftovers from an injection – he'd gotten a fair few of those himself from Carson. "They have been coming to us twice each day. I am not sure how much longer it will be before our bodies will crave the enzyme like Aiden's." She looked back up into his eyes with a fierce desperation. "John…." She so rarely used his first name that he was immediately startled. "I know that we have no way to get back to Atlantis right now, but we must try to leave. I fear that Aiden is not telling us the truth about why he brought us here, and the longer we wait the more dangerous we will become to you."

"Teyla…believe me when I say I want to leave – I don't want you going through this," he struggled. "But I think we both know how dangerous Ford and his men are with the enzyme. I don't think I can risk trying to work out an escape plan without putting you guys in even more danger." She nodded understandingly, but when she winced in pain, his heart nearly broke.

"I'm going to go talk to Ford – see if I can convince him to let you and Ronon off the hook as far as training goes. Will you be okay if I leave you alone for a little while?" he asked anxiously.

"Yes." She gave him a smile that did little to reassure him, and he gave her hand a squeeze in return. He stood up to go find Ford and made it as far as the entrance to the hallway when he ran smack into Kanayo and three of his teammates. Sheppard was instantly on guard and threw a quick, subtle glance toward Teyla – he was surprised to see a look of pure horrified terror frozen on her face.

Turning his attention back to Kanayo, Sheppard immediately decided he didn't like the way he was looking right past him and eyeing Teyla over his shoulder. He stepped in front of Kanayo, forcing the other man to take his attention from his injured friend. "Are you the ones who did that to her? I want to speak to Ford right now about keeping the hell away from my team and getting Teyla some medical treatment."

"I don't think that's going to work, Colonel Sheppard."

"Why not?" he demanded. "She's injured, and the least you can do is make sure she's taken care of. If you won't do it here, let her go back to Atlantis and get checked out."

Kanayo smirked at him in a cocky, smug manner. "It's standard training, and she's no different than anyone else who comes through here, so she's just going to have to deal with it. Besides, once the enzyme starts to get more effective, it won't take as much time to heal. Ford's busy finalizing the plans – he doesn't have time to listen to you complain about how your little bitch of a girlfriend banged her head."

Something inside of Sheppard snapped, and he threw himself at Kanayo wanting only to pound the guy's face to a pulp. As quick as his reflexes were, however, the Wraith-enhanced ones were faster, and he was easily pushed to the ground by one of the men flanking him, banging his hip on the way down with such force that he had to bite his tongue to keep from letting out a yell. Kanayo and the others easily stepped over him and made for Teyla. When he caught a glimpse of the large syringe that Kanayo had in his pocket, he immediately clambered up.

Teyla had managed to get to her feet as well, and he could see her eyes darting about the room with a rabbity, panicked speed that he'd never seen before. He could tell exactly what she was thinking from the desperation on her face – _'I'm caught,_ _John, I'm caught, I'm caught!'_ – and it propelled him forward like nothing else could. By the time he'd managed to get halfway across the room, they'd already managed to mostly corner her. She made a last ditch attempt at escape and lunged for one of the open gaps in the group. One of the men easily caught her and flung her back again with such force that John heard the hollow thump of her head hitting the wall reverberate through the room along with the horrible yelp of pain that she let out.

Sheppard managed to get a hold of one of the men but was elbowed viciously in the forehead as soon as he got a good grip. Tears of pain welled in his eyes, but he blinked them away. Pure adrenaline, rage, and fear was pumping through his veins by this point, and he came right back again, hardly losing a step in the process. Two of the men finally managed to get a hold on his arms and tried to keep restrain him as he wildly tried to break free and launch himself at Kanayo.

All he could see was Teyla – she'd looked over to him, her eyes locked on his as though afraid to let him leave her sight for a minute. Nothing else mattered then but her, and he watched helplessly as Kanayo's companion threw a rough arm across her chest to pin her to the wall, banging her bruised jaw with his fist as he did so. As Sheppard fought to get to her with a crazed, desperate energy he could see Teyla putting up a struggle of her own, but even on a good day she would have been no match for them, and her injuries did little to help the situation. Kanayo quickly yanked on her arm, plunged the needle into the veins in the crook of her elbow, and emptied the next dose of the enzyme.

They let her go, and she slid to the floor, leaving a small smear of blood on the wall where the back of her head had been crushed against it. For some reason, that little maroon stain took all the fight out of Sheppard, and when the men tentatively let him go, he didn't even try to turn on them. He rushed to her side, refusing to even give Kanayo and the others the satisfaction of looking up at them or jumping back to his feet. He heard their quiet retreating footsteps, and when he knew they were alone, he carefully gathered Teyla up in his arms and moved her to the bed. She was shaking, trembling with such force that he knew it could only have been caused by the shock of the pure enzyme hitting her system. Sheppard cradled her in his lap, carefully pressing a scrap of his t-shirt to the bloody patch on the back of her head. She continued to shake, dry retching and panting as she did so. Yet even as he watched, he could see the blood flowing from her scalp lessen unnaturally quickly. Some of the bruises on her jaw began to slightly fade from a blackish purple to a yellowish color, and he could have sworn the shiner above her eye had shrunk a bit since he'd washed it.

He knew it had to be the enzyme but didn't want to admit that it was working. It wasn't worth what they had done to her. As her trembling began to subside, Teyla lay still in his arms. Sheppard could see her eyelids fluttering and hear her breathing come in small, hitched gasps as though she were a young child who had cried herself to sleep. He wasn't even aware he was crying until a teardrop splashed on her forehead; he didn't even bother to wipe away his tears. He had never felt so helpless in his life, and there was nothing he could do for her, for any of them. And he hated himself for it. He hugged her closer and buried his face in her soft hair, gently kissing the top of her head. At that moment he swore to himself that he'd get her home if it killed him.

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Yeah, it's a little darker than what I normally write, but hope it was okay. Leave me a review s'il vous plait! Feedback from you guys is always appreciated.


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